Child-Proof Sugar Cookies

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Recipe by: Wendy Mmm Gibson

"This recipe is great for first time cookie makers and kindergartners. They are easy and lots of fun. The children in my classes have never messed up a batch of these cookies in the fourteen years I've been teaching kindergarten, and neither have my four adorable children. You can use whole wheat flour in place of the all-purpose flour, if you wish."

Directions

Mix the sugar, shortening, egg, vanilla and almond extract until creamy. Mix in the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Make several small balls of dough. Roll out dough to about 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with well floured cookie cutters. If desired, press candies, raisins, nuts or sprinkles into cookies. Place cookies onto the prepared sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes, depending upon whether you like hard or soft cookies. Remove cookies and let cool on a rack. Serve warm with a glass of milk. They are also good with ice cream wedged in the middle of two cookies.

Reviews 65

83 Ratings

Mandy

12/18/2008

What a variety of reviews! People seem to either love it or hate it, and I went on a mission to find out what was going so wrong for some people and so right for others. Too wet? Too dry? I think it’s the MIXING method that makes a difference. If you mix this like a group of kindergartners would – dump and mix by hand, it should turn out just fine. If you are using an electric stand mixer, you might have to make some changes to get it to work.
My first shot at this recipe was using a KitchenAid stand mixer, and my results were less than ideal. The dough looked nice and rolled out pretty well, but it was impossible to get the cut shapes off of the floured surface without destroying them – even repeatedly flouring the surface and re-rolling wasn’t cutting it – they just stuck down and fell apart. In an attempt to salvage the batch, I put the whole ball back into the mixer and added another 1/4 Cup of flour. Perfect! It rolled out well and cut well on a floured surface, and the cookies turned out great.
Second try was by hand to see if my theory about mixing held true, and it did. The original recipe worked just fine when mixed by hand with a good old-fashioned wooden spoon. I floured the table and rolling pin heavily and repeatedly while rolling and cutting. Stick with the simpler forms like Christmas trees and snowmen, not reindeer with skinny legs – the dough is a bit fragile.
Cookies are soft and puffy, like the ones you get at the bakery with the super-sweet frosting on the

SCHWINNY

10/14/2003

I am dissappointed at the dough quality. As soon as my 5 year old tried to roll the dough it crumbled into little pieces. Then once the shapes were finally cut, as she removed them from the board they crumbled again. This is not a recipe to repeat.